


The Guardian Of Sky

by ajkal2



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Kerberos Mission, Kinda, Metaphysical Shenanigans, Sentient Voltron Lions, Spacewalking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-02
Updated: 2017-08-02
Packaged: 2018-12-10 04:27:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11684055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ajkal2/pseuds/ajkal2
Summary: His bedsheets when he was 6 had been decorated with rockets and stars, little astronauts floating among them.Three seconds to go.---a drabble about astronauts and cosmic lions





	The Guardian Of Sky

It was all Jupiter's fault, Matt had told him. The gas giant was just too big, and that meant that in the early days of the Solar System, a planet couldn't form between Jupiter and Mars. It kept getting ripped apart by Jupiter's gravity, and here Matt had paused to grab Shiro's greasy napkin and demonstrate with sound effects. But all that material, the stuff that would've been a planet if not for stupid Jupiter, that was left behind. Left behind as a mess of asteroids, unchartable and deadly.   
  
And that, Matt had concluded 10 months ago while sipping his milkshake, was why the Asteroid Belt existed, and so why they needed a pilot on-board the Kerberos mission. 'Cause of stupid Jupiter. And the finite speed of light. Latency, Matt had sighed, was a bitch.   
  
Shiro had shrugged, and replied that without it he'd be out of a job, so he was quite fond of the delay in transmissions.    
  
Matt had snorted.   
  
It was Jupiter’s fault, however, that the Asteroid Belt existed. So it was Jupiter's fault that a floating space rock had chipped the side of the _Persephone_ and knocked their comms array out of alignment.    
  
Realigning it, thankfully, was an easy task. Commander Holt, as the resident communications officer, would be monitoring the array from the consoles within the ship. Matt, as the resident engineer, would be going outside the ship to physically poke at the array until it worked again.    
  
The laws drafted in 2057 concerning non-planetbound activities stated clearly that any astronaut leaving their ship must be accompanied by at least one other, in case of equipment failure or other unspecified emergency.   
  
This meant that Shiro was going to go on a spacewalk. He was going to be _in space!!!_   
  
"Shiro, we're already in space," Matt groaned. They were packed into the airlock, bumping shoulders and hips.   
  
"It's different and you know it," Shiro retorted, grin stretching his cheeks.   
  
Matt rolled his eyes, steadying himself by wrapping chunky gloved fingers around one of the handles above them. The EVA suits they were wearing were bulky, thick layers of insulation and protection against the vacuum of space. Because they were going into the vacuum of space.    
  
"Leave him alone," Commander Holt chuckled over the internal comms, "I remember my first spacewalk. It was also a repair, but it went wrong in the most amusing-"   
  
"Dad. You tell this story any time an EVA is ever mentioned," Matt tried to facepalm. His glove clunked against his helmet with a sad pap.   
  
"To be fair," Shiro said, "It is a very good story." His eyes were fixed on the countdown to decompression, when the airlock would open. Twenty seconds.   
  
"Thank you, Takashi. At least someone on this ship appreciates me."   
  
"Oh my god," Matt started, but Shiro wasn't listening anymore because there were ten seconds left and then he'd be in space.    
  
His bedsheets when he was 6 had been decorated with rockets and stars, little astronauts floating among them.    
  
Three seconds.   
  
Shiro took a deep breath, even through the air-supply icon on his wrist was full and green.    
  
The numbers above his head flashed to zero. He reached up, pulled a lever. The airlock door would've made a clunking sound, had there been any air. Matt and Commander Holt fell silent, leaving the buzzing background static as the only thing in his ears.   
  
The door separated into 6 sections, opening like a camera shutter, and revealed the stars. Shiro pulled himself forward and out, floating gently away from the ship.   
  
It was a view like nothing on Earth. The stars themselves were clear and bright. Millions of them surrounded him, pinpricks of light tinted with red or yellow or blue. The Milky Way arched above and below him. The spaces between the stars, that velvety blackness was laid out in front of him, below him, above him, everywhere and he reached out, eyes fluttering shut-   
  
His tether snapped taut, jolting his whole body. Oh. The comms array. Shiro reached behind him, grabbed the tough cord binding him to the _Persephone_. He tore his eyes away from the stars, checked his life-support, and started reeling himself back in towards the ship. Matt was just emerging from the airlock.    
  
"Quite something, isn't it." Commander Holt said softly. "You never forget your first time."    
  
Matt brightened. "That's what she said!" he crowed.   
  
Shiro groaned, making the sound as loud as possible, and caught hold of the rail outside the airlock. His tether spooled out behind him.    
  
Matt clutched the rail next to Shiro, hooking both their tethers onto it. His eyes were fixed behind them, on the stars, and Shiro felt his own eyes crinkle.    
  
'We're already in space, Shiro,’ Shiro said, pitching his voice high and squeaky, 'It's not a big deal, Shiro.'   
  
"Shut up, you." Matt pulled himself along the rail, unhooking his tether to glide along the hull of the ship. "Comms array is over here."   
  
There wasn't really that much for Shiro to do while Matt was repairing the array. He could hand over tools or catch them when they floated off, but otherwise he was a glorified babysitter. Even Sam was reporting back on the signal strength, helping out. He held back a sigh, pushing out to nudge a wrench back in Matt's direction.    
  
Matt pushed his screwdriver further into the small space, wriggling it gently. "C'mon, you stupid panel, get ba-"   
  
The link cut out. Shiro couldn't even hear the static. Matt thumped the side of the ship with his gloved fist, and Shiro smiled at the thought of the curses he had to be shouting.   
  
Shiro's life support was still green. Maybe Matt had jogged something in the repair, but he didn't seem concerned, just irritated.    
  
Then Shiro's eyes wandered back to the stars.    
  
It was easy to forget them, after a few hours. Well, not forget them, but to focus on other things. But they never changed, never wavered. The clear points of light, red and yellow and blue. The cloud-like splendour of their galaxy, overhead and underfoot. The inky blackness between the stars, deep and dense and fathomless.   
  
Shiro had read somewhere about a paradox. If the universe was infinite, it stated, then there would eventually be a star in every direction you could point. And so, because light travelled forever in a straight line, and stars shone, the sky should be full of light.    
  
But it wasn't. The blackness remained.    
  
Shiro could feel it somehow, the sky reaching out, over and in front and around and  _ everywhere.  _ He reached out, fingers flexing, and he could've sworn he felt warm fur brushing against them.    
  
He closed his eyes, focusing on the faint pull behind his sternum. A head butted against his side, heavy and immense. For a second he felt the stars rushing past him, and he furrowed his brow. His hands were translucent, speckled with deep purple light, and the stars were brighter than ever, and there was a sound, building behind his ears, a roar, like a lio-   
  
"HA. GOT YOU, YOU LITTLE SH-"   
  
"Matt."    
  
"Screw! Little screw,” Matt continued seamlessly. “The comms should be back up. I am a genius."    
  
Shiro's eyes snapped open, and the space between the stars was just blackness. Not fur. He rechecked his oxygen levels, but they were nowhere near low enough to account for hallucinations.    
  
"Well, we won't get a ping back from Earth for about 20 minutes, but the readouts from the main array are back in the green. Great job out there, both of you," Commander Holt said, and Shiro smiled at Matt's whoop.   
  
****   
  
In a castle a long way away, dust settled back onto the floor of a hanger. A yellow light slowly faded, and there was a mechanical sigh as a massive weight resettled onto the white floor panels.    
  
The Black Lion knew that this paladin, like so many, would not reach her. She was far from them, and her sisters were scattered.    
  
She had promised her sisters that she would not fly again until they all had partners, good strong bonds, enough to hold her back. This young one could not be hers, no matter how his soul sung. Her choices in the past had taught her that much at least.   
  
The hanger was dark once more, and the halls were silent.


End file.
